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Jaime Heins’ versatility will serve him well no matter where he goes from here. It’s not every day that one gets to talk to general counsel at an inflection point of their career, but the former general counsel and corporate secretary at EBlock is ready for whatever the future may hold. And Heins’ resume showcases just how resilient, innovative, and versatile the attorney and business leader can be.
“I’ve always prided myself on the versatility that’s ingrained in me,” Heins says from his home in Burlington, Vermont. Including helping a private company grow, enabling a business to become a public company, and applying the skills he learned while in private practice, Heins’ range of capabilities helps him know just how important it is to keep business moving forward.
Heins’ career has exemplified a relentless drive to continue to build out the attorney’s wide and generalist in-house skillset. At Burton Snowboards, Heins was only the second lawyer hired to expand the function and capabilities for the world-renowned winter sports brand’s law department.
From there, he moved to public company Keurig Green Mountain, which several years later merged with Dr Pepper in a transformational massive merger between the two companies to create a beverage behemoth with an almost fifty-person law department. Heins led the US commercial and litigation teams as vice president and associate general counsel for the combined Keurig Dr Pepper enterprise.
“It’s very fulfilling to me to be able to have some kind of impact on a community that’s done so much for me.”
Jamie Heins
From that VP and AGC role, Heins challenged himself again as the first in-house lawyer hired by EBlock to establish and define the function entirely for the newly public company. The attorney has worked through multiple industries—from snowboards to beverages and automotive technology—to truly define what it means to be an effective generalist and business partner.
Wherever Heins decides to go next, the GC says his deep commitment to public service will remain part of his life. For Heins, his best work comes at the local community level where one’s political party is more of an afterthought than the desire to unite residents of the Vermont community around a more common mission.
“I’ve had the opportunity to serve on local legislative bodies, and the work is just about being a good citizen and a good neighbor,” Heins says. “You use the skills from your everyday professional and personal experiences to build relationships and overcome hurdles in the community and help expand the pie for everyone.”
Heins has served on governmental bodies and nonprofit boards, and much of it comes back to the greater Burlington area, the community that holds the lawyer’s heart. Heins has a great deal of affinity for his local YMCA where he’s served as a board member for several years. He considers the Greater Burlington YMCA a community resource full of programmatic offerings that can provide meaningful experiences regardless of one’s economic situation.
“Enabling that kind of mission is very rewarding to me, and I hope I’ve been able to provide some level of input and value to the broader organization,” Heins says. “It’s very fulfilling to me to be able to have some kind of impact on a community that’s done so much for me.”
“I’m at the point in my career where I’d like to be spending my time with an organization where purpose matters and where I can drive change.”
Jamie Heins
But the biggest question remains: What’s next for a lawyer who seems willing to entertain everything from leading another public company to returning to private practice? Much like his public service work, Heins says it comes down to the organization’s mission.
His latest role involved helping EBlock navigate a challenging and distressed automotive industry and macroeconomic environment the past two years. The GC got more involved in securities regulation, corporate governance, and partnering with the board of directors. Now equipped with those new muscles, Heins says he’s willing to entertain almost any offer if it meets a slim set of criteria.
“In the right department and in the right culture, I’m open to almost any conversation,” the attorney says. “I just want to be in a role beyond the everyday lawyering. I’m at the point in my career where I’d like to be spending my time with an organization where purpose matters and where I can drive change. That’s what is compelling to me at this moment, and I’m not entirely sure if that means a public company, a private company, or even returning to private practice.”
That broad availability might seem overwhelming to many. The further some get along in their careers, the more specialized they become. It’s not a criticism or knock but a natural progression. But Heins’ willingness to consider a move that will widen his generalist skill set just reinforces that adaptability and resiliency which have aided him over the past twenty years.
For now, Heins is enjoying some time on the slopes with his children and contemplating what the future holds. The only guarantee of his future is that what is next will be interesting.
